This Is the End (2013) 73/100

Posted on June 29, 2013 by The Red Dragon

Rating : 73/100 107 Min

The latest offering from the new wave of comedy writers, actors and directors that have dominated Hollywood for the last few years, this time all playing parodies of themselves. Jay Baruchel meets up with his old comedy buddy Seth Rogen (they are both Canadian) and they all go to the number one party hangout in L.A. – James Franco’s house. Jay wonders how close he and Rogen really are anymore, but before he can find answers to this and other quasi-existential problems, disaster strikes. An actual disaster, that is, with earthquakes galore and a hefty mortality rate, and North America’s funniest are forced to band together in an effort to survive.

Initially, the first thing that comes to mind in the opening quarter is ‘Shaun of the Dead’ (04), with the mixture of comedy and bloody violence that we are greeted with. Given the team behind that zombie-comedy hit have their new film coming out in a matter of weeks, and that it’s called ‘The World’s End’ with the definite appearance from the trailer of a doomsday scenario, it hardly seems like a coincidence. First out of the blocks then, how does this one perform? Well, once it gets going it’s not long before it establishes its own voice, and it becomes a lot of fun, with good performances from everyone and some nice cameos from the likes of Emma Watson and Michael Cera, and indeed a certain famous band from the nineties, along with a fantastic appearance from Channing Tatum.

Look forward to gory, sweary violence, and, well, everything else you might expect to find at a party held at James Franco’s humble abode….

Byzantium (2012) 52/100

Posted on June 2, 2013 by The Red Dragon

Rating : 52/100 118 Min

Easily the two best things in this film are Gemma Arterton’s breasts jumping gallantly around for most of the film, occasionally winking out of their hopeful constraints toward us like two giant, mischievous mountains, whilst lesser beings gravitate around them and, as soon as they prove to be no visual challenge to Arterton’s alluring curves, are promptly killed. This is because the lady in question plays a vampire, Clara, quite fully endowed to helm the film solo she is nevertheless enjoined by her moody vampire daughter Eleanor, played by Saoirse Ronan. The two both began as human and despite both being around two hundred years old, Eleanor picks this particular moment to enter her teenage rebellious phase, queue lots of staring meaningfully into the distance, capriciousness and melancholy pangs of no one else understanding her, and pops at her mother’s guardianship and choice of vocation.

This is one of the many faults of the film, but the list is rather a long one. Said mother’s vocation, for example, is harlotry. Now, given we’re told they never forget anything and have been around for two centuries it doesn’t take a huge leap of imagination to consider she could have come up with something better to do than offer shaft maintenance at fifty pounds a go. In fact, since we also find out her and her daughter, who does not turn tricks incidentally (at least, not so far as we are aware), are the only female vampires in existence, she must effectively be the best prostitute the world has ever known. I mean, her pelvic floor muscles must be so damn powerful that she can prevent ejaculation at all times, maintain erections indefinitely, and she’s immune to disease. Together with her eternal beauty, she should be sleeping with world premiers not moaning and mumping about how she’s so hard up and she’s simply doing what she can to support her family, as if she’s some washed up dockland missy with broken teeth, whose closest friends are crawling around in her undergarments. She blatantly enjoys what she does, why can’t the writer (Moira Buffini, based on her play) just be honest with her characters?

Eleanor promptly finds a young male to chow over teenage angst ridden romance with, and naturally she is torn by whether or not she should tell him she’s dead, although she’s already decided she will of course, she just wants to dramatise the wait as much as possible, and frankly the male character she chooses is way creepier than any of the vampires are. As the only female vamps, they are being pursued by some of the ruling male hierarchy who wish to ‘have words’ with them. Among their number is Sam Riley playing Darvell, and he is pretty convincing in the role, until he starts to do his gravelly voice thing that he used to such bad effect in ‘On the Road’. For goodness sake, you are a vampire, your character does not need to pretend to be hard.

A vampire film daring to be released into the saturated market nowadays really has to have something original and compelling about it – this doesn’t. It doesn’t make any sense, the characters are unreal in more ways than one, I sort of got into the back story that’s told throughout the film but even that is done in a very awkward and disjointed manner. Indeed, with Ronan’s character there are shades of her last release, ‘The Host’, and the final film is just as lackluster – a major disappointment from director Neil Jordan, amongst whose past credits lies the very fine indeed ‘Interview with the Vampire’ (94). Incidentally, the title comes primarily from the name of the guest house Clara sets up business in, though there is a brief reference to the city – Byzantium was of course the precursor of what would later become Constantinople, and then, later still, Istanbul in modern day Turkey.

Princess Mononoke / Mononoke-hime (1997) 75/100

Posted on April 10, 2013 by The Red Dragon

Rating : 75/100 134 Min

‘The Last of the Mohicans’ meets ‘Star Wars’ meets ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ in this, the film that really put Studio Ghibli on the map internationally and was, upon its release in 1997, the most financially successful theatrical anime in Japan’s history, indeed becoming the highest grossing Japanese film of the year. It’s set centuries past in feudal Japan, and mixes strands of history with Japanese mythology in a tale of the perversive power of hatred, anger and fear, and the dangers of throwing nature out of balance. Princess Mononoke herself has a wonderful introduction, and indeed the entirety of her first major scene I would without hesitation enter into my list of all time favourite film moments, with her charging into an enemy fort quite determined to take on everyone in it single-handedly. One of The Red Dragon’s biggest criticisms of the film is simply that she does not feature enough. In fact, the main character is actually Ashitaka, who exists as our hero, advocating reason and diplomacy as he is abruptly sent on a quest to the heart of the forest, wherein he will encounter mankind mining the earth for iron, and in doing so waging war on the spirits of the forest – some of whom have raised Mononoke (whose name is actually a general term for spirit or monster in Japanese) since she was a mere baby.

Should you be thinking of showing this to your children, there is bloody violence, including decapitations, but it is of the sort more likely to have your kids thinking ‘cooool’ rather than being disturbed by it, worth bearing in mind nonetheless, otherwise this presents an exciting and memorable parable. It features another good score from the wonderful Joe Hisaishi, who does many of Ghibli’s films, though the colour scheme is a little less vibrant than elsewhere in their collection. Ghibli itself (pronounced Gee-Bow-Lee in Japanese, Jibly in the west) comes from the Arabic word for the Sirocco, a Mediterranean wind, with the idea being their work would come as a dramatic wind of change in the industry; which indeed has been borne out as true. Here we see perhaps the studio fully establishing their voice, and yet still retaining some traditions of Japanese anime – a young female still manages to get herself covered in writhing tentacles, for example, although here they represent subversion due to hatred, rather than sexual desire.

The hand drawn style of animation is very easy to love, and in many ways it is the product of the drive and doting attention of director and Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki. In fact, he invested so much in this film he decided to retire once it was finished, although he couldn’t resist coming back to do ‘Spirited Away’ (and then several others) years later, whose success would eclipse even that of Mononoke. Due to time constraints this was the first film from the studio to introduce the partial use of computers, via the technique of ‘digital paint’, since then a practical balance was sought between traditional methods and new technology, that ultimately ended with a complete return to hand craft for all elements of animation (currently the only major studio to be doing so), beginning with ‘Ponyo’ in 2008. Also a signature imprint of Miyazaki are his strong, independent, loveable, and interesting female characters, from Mononoke to fort and iron works commander in chief Lady Eboshi, and the former prostitutes she has cheerfully working the bellows of her smelting forge. Reputedly, this stems from his seeing the animated film ‘Hakujaden’ (‘The Tale of the White Serpent’) in his youth and very much falling in love with the female protagonist.

Comparing the Japanese version with English subtitles, to the English language version with a host of big name actors doing the voice overs, the overall acting is better in the Japanese one (although Minnie Driver is great as Lady Eboshi in the other), however the audio translation (scripted by author Neil Gaiman) is better and makes more sense of the story, especially for non-Japanese audiences, than the subtitled translation, so that overall the English language version is to be recommended. It’s a little on the long side (when Harvey Weinstein, co-founder of Miramax, suggested it be abridged for release in the States, Miyazaki sent him a Katana blade with a note saying ‘No Cuts’, which simply underscores the awesomeness of Miyazaki) but this is animation with a real story and real point to make, one without any traditional ‘bad guy’, and some blood, the occasional ‘bitch’, and ex prostitutes aside, it aptly demonstrates how animation can be made to appeal to both young and old audiences alike.

The Odd life of Timothy Green (2012) 59/100

Posted on April 7, 2013 by The Red Dragon

Rating : 59/100 105 Min

There is a wonderful heart to this film, in that it focuses on a young family who find out they will never be able to have children and so, in an evening of cathartic desperation, they decide to write out all the things they imagine their child would have been, kind, ‘honest to a fault’ etc. and then they bury the list in an old wooden box in the back garden. A mysterious rain falls and up springs Timothy Green, their fully fledged nine or so years old son from the back garden, replete with leaves genetically attached to his calves.

It’s a nice idea, and the film from there on deals with issues of early, and abrupt, parenthood, and family relations and expectations. Unfortunately, it does so in an all too breezy way, and for the most part the story doesn’t prove engaging. The final third does deliver more on the emotional side of things and it is a spirited performance from the family members – Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Garner as the parents, and CJ Adams as Green, with a host of other recognisable faces appearing throughout, including David Morse and Dianne Wiest. Overall a nice, simple film, if a little flimsy – fine for young family viewing.

Jack the Giant Slayer (2013) 68/100

Posted on March 23, 2013 by The Red Dragon

Rating : 68/100 114 Min

A fantasy adventure film from director Bryan Singer (‘The Usual Suspects’ 95, ‘X-Men’ 2000) surrounding the legendary children’s tales of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ and ‘Jack the Giant Killer’. Jack, played here by ‘Warm Bodies’ Nicholas Hoult, is forced to go on an errant hike up the mythic plant to rescue the young princess, played by relative newcomer Eleanor Tomlinson, whom he has, understandably, developed the horn for, accompanied by several of the perhaps less keen of the King of Cloister’s guards. Included in the entourage are old ‘Trainspotting’ (96) Scottish pals Ewan McGregor and Ewen Bremnar, along with Eddie Marsan, perhaps having acquired a taste for fantasy after appearing as one of the dwarfs in last year’s ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’, along with American Stanley Tucci as the next in line to Ian McShane’s throne. Tucci always invests in his roles with playful relish, and here is no exception with his tone perfect for the film, as is McGregor’s posh gallantry. Bill Nighy also voices the leader of the giants, with his accent wavering between the one he used for Davy Jones and a reasonably convincing Irish one.

The effects are good, I don’t believe seeing the film in 3D really adds anything, although that is hardly anything new, and the efforts made with the story to make it interesting are successful in a lot of ways, although despite good intentions a certain drag factor does creep in, which for adult viewers will probably not see this advance beyond the ‘likeable’ category, which is a shame. Overall though it remains an enjoyable fairytale romp, which should see both romantic hopefuls prove likeable and attractive enough to hold interest to the end.

Oz The Great and Powerful (2013) 37/100

Posted on March 9, 2013 by The Red Dragon

Rating : 37/100 130 Min

Oh my goodness, this is just awful. It’s the prequel to ‘The Wizard of Oz’ (1939) which, since that was based on the first of L. Frank Baum’s Oz novels ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’, means this is an ‘imagined’ story, in the likeness of the rest. It relies heavily on special effects and a far too overindulgent, and at times outright garish, technicolouresque palette. There is a story but it’s so overtly banal, and the central performance from James Franco as Oz so completely lacklustre, involving naught but him grinning like a Cheshire Cat and delivering his lines with such drab drollery he comes across as being half stoned most of the time (although sadly his father passed away during production, so it isn’t really surprising this is not his finest moment), that replacing a lot of the characters and dreary dialogue with more effects might have actually been an improvement. Though, those same effects that the film relies on so much look absolutely terrible in places, with it painfully obvious the main characters are standing in front of a green screen. It really isn’t good enough, although The Red Dragon viewed the film in 2D, and can only hope it looks more convincing on a 3D projection.

The whole is not helped by the score from Danny Elfman which drones on uninterrupted for pretty much the entire film and must be some of the least original or enterprising work he’s ever done. The look and feel of the film, together with his music, initially evoke bad memories of Tim Burton’s ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ and, to a slightly lesser degree, his ‘Alice in Wonderland’. The whole of the intro appears in black and white, mirroring the beginning of the 1939 film, with a 4:3 aspect ratio, before expanding into full colour and 16:9 widescreen upon arrival in Oz, but it takes a painfully long time to do so. The supporting characters do little but grate, with the exception of a small china doll in the likeness of a girl whose animation and empathetic appearance are one of the film’s few saving graces. In fact all of the female actors, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, and Joey King as the China Girl, unanimously bring some life and interest to the film, but are not in of themselves enough to make it worthwhile. Some of the real sets that were built to mix in with the computer graphics, also bring something of value to the piece.

The Oz stories were aimed at children of course, and the film might be better enjoyed by younger audiences. Not too young though, as some of the evil characters, such as the flying, screeching baboons, may terrify rather than entertain. Director Sam Raimi fits in a lot of his trademark ‘several things fly into shot at the same time in a loud and abrupt manner’ which, combined with the baboons, may also not be ideal for wee ones. The script sneaks in a bit of a nod to ‘Back to the Future’ and the music makes an acoustic acknowledgement of the fact, see if you spot it should you decide to brave the mire of cerebral boredom that this film will present you with.

The following interview with Mila Kunis is more entertaining than the actual movie.

Hansel and Gretel : Witch Hunters (2013) 62/100

Posted on March 1, 2013 by The Red Dragon

Rating : 62/100 88 Min

Gory fantasy violence as the traditional fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel gets a modern makeover. The original story was of course written by the Brothers Grimm, and indeed the look and feel of this film is very similar to Terry Gilliam’s ‘The Brothers Grimm’ with a lot of attention paid to the production design, including an animatronic troll, and complete with a very similar role for everyone’s favourite bad guy Peter Stormare. Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton play the titular two, grown into adulthood and battle hardened after many successful seasons of witch hunting, but now they face multiple child abductions in the same area, and a brush with their mysterious past. Famke Janssen makes an appearance, and you can expect lots of frenetic and gaudily over the top fight sequences with blunderbusses and magic. Ok, but instantly forgettable.

A brief look behind the cameras – look out for what must surely have been a painful blow to the midriff…

Beautiful Creatures (2013) 63/100

Posted on February 14, 2013 by The Red Dragon

Rating : 63/100 124 Min

The latest offering in the teen fantasy romance genre focuses on witches rather than vampires or werewolves, but retains many familiar elements; such as a young attractive female soon to be the centre of everyone’s attention, and pretty much bad news for everyone else in the middle of nowhere dead-end town where she is the newcomer, cue polarised clashes of good versus evil. It’s not too bad though, despite featuring nothing terribly original, and the leads played by Alice Englert (daughter of ‘The Piano’ 93 director Jane Campion) as Lena Duchannes, and Alden Ehrenreich as Ethan Wate are good enough to hold interest until the end, with Emma Thompson, Viola Davis, Jeremy Irons, and Emmy Rossum in support for extra gravitas and sex appeal.

It’s based on the 2009 book by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, and in their universe curiously the female witches, unlike their male counterparts, do not get to choose whether or not they take the path of good or evil, but rather fate (represented here by the moon) chooses for them on their sixteenth birthday. An odd, pseudo sexist, splicing of age of consent and menstrual cycle, implying teenage girls are creatures of sanguine whimsy rather than will, although the main character is at least projected as vague counterpoint to that notion.

The Hobbit : An Unexpected Journey (2012) 71/100

Posted on January 15, 2013 by The Red Dragon

Rating : 71/100 169 Min

The long awaited prequel to ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy from director Peter Jackson finally hits the big-screen and delivers a faithful adventure back into the lush meadows and goblin invested caverns of Middle-earth. The story follows the youthful adventures of Bilbo Baggins, as he embarks upon the titular unexpected journey with Gandalf the Grey and an entourage of dwarven companions. The scope of the film is wonderful, and fans of both Peter Jackson and J.R.R. Tolkien will be glad to see that there are quite a few extras in the film taken from outwith the relatively small confines of ‘The Hobbit’ the novel, but still from the pages of Tolkien’s world of Middle-earth from other sources.

It has been said that spinning a much smaller story out over three films again (‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’, and ‘The Hobbit: There and Back Again’ will be released in 2013 and 2014 respectively) is simply a cynical attempt to make as much money as possible from a venture which is guaranteed to do just that, given ‘The Lord of the Rings’ was one of the most successful film franchises of all time, and the third film ‘The Return of the King’ one of the most successful at the Oscars in their history too. However, the new trilogy is also an opportunity for the fans and filmmakers alike to once again invest in a world they love, and to bring as much of it to life as possible, and with that in mind using material other than just ‘The Hobbit’ is not only valid but to be actively encouraged.

A major let down and problem with the film is, unfortunately, Peter Jackson’s style of shooting action sequences. Here there are many, many, confrontations of sword and magic, and though the details differ, they are all essentially one and the same thing. Believability and tension are the casualties of bad guys that are too easy to kill, and good guys that should by rights all be dead a thousand times over. In fact, one sequence seems to be an exact replica of one the director has already used in his version of ‘King Kong’ (05), a film that was good visually but was all but destroyed by nonsensical action set pieces.

It would have been much better to keep the action gritty and tense, even at the expense of the grandeur that has been put into the final version. In a sense, the action does fit with what is supposed to be the translation of fiction aimed at younger readers (‘The Lord of the Rings’ was aimed at a more adult readership compared to ‘The Hobbit’), but adult audiences will almost certainly find it dull and a little disappointing. Nevertheless, it is wonderful to see Sir Ian McKellen back on the big-screen as Gandalf, though they seemed to have used prosthetics to make him look older than in ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’, and yet they’ve sensibly used computers to make a lot of the other characters look younger.

The young Bilbo is played by Martin Freeman, who was head hunted for the role, and the dwarves feature a range of accents and talents from across the British Isles – no doubt we will come to know, and probably love, them much better over the next few years. Female readers might want to debate this list trending on Facebook at the moment – the-13-dwarves-in-the-hobbit-ranked-by-hotness.

An enjoyable sorte back into Middle-earth. Hopefully the action will have a little more bite to it next time round. Also, note the somewhat frugal use of transportation at the end…

Midnight’s Children (2012) 3/100

Posted on January 5, 2013 by The Red Dragon

Rating : 3/100 146 Min

Based on his novel and produced, narrated, and written by Salman Rushdie, this fairly epic in length and scope tale follows the woes and fortunes of children born on the stroke of midnight as India gained her independence from the United Kingdom. This historical event occurred on the 15th August 1947, and on the preceding day the independent Muslim states of East and West Pakistan were created, with predominantly Hindu and Sikh India atwixt the two, all from territory previously controlled by the British. Thus the birth of these children occurs at a unique moment in history, and the story revolves around a special spiritual significance given to their inception.

Which is all fine and well. The film begins in a traditional way, telling the back story of the narrator’s family (he is himself one of these children) and it’s quite a nice, gentle introduction. Then, however, one of the secondary characters does something so horrendously evil, with so little reasoning behind it and, as we will come to learn, so hopelessly out of character, that a palpable break in the story is created. As we realise this evil deed was pure narrative artifice, the break becomes an ever increasing abyss between the audience and the whims of the storyteller, as he introduces ever increasing layers of whimsy and mysticism surrounding the birth of midnight’s children. Their arrival on the earthly plane at the time of India and Pakistan’s new dawn invites legitimate questions over what the author is trying to say, what the overall message may be, or whether or not there are simply several undercurrents all with some sort of legitimacy of their own. As the story continues to degenerate into an almost Bollywood version of ‘Heroes’, we realise that it’s just complete nonsense.

The tale would have been much more effective, not to mention meaningful, with the simple evisceration of all the spiritual mumbo-jumbo and a focus on the real gritty and fascinating history. The complete and dismal failure of the movie is by far and away the fault of Salman Rushdie himself, although the filmmaking does begin to falter and let itself down in the last third as well, which doesn’t help. A few points for simply illustrating some of the history, though complaints have been raised over the depiction of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and it will be interesting to see how it’s received in India upon its general release there later this year. A Canadian/British movie, filmed in Sri Lanka under a false title to avoid protests from extreme parties in both India and Pakistan, the novel it’s based on won several prestigious accolades, one can only assume most of its content was lost in translation.

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